The Unfortunate Circumstances
by Liscute00
Summary: What made the prince so bitter, so proud? What if the enchantress doesn't change his outer appearance? Find out more in this detailed twist on a beloved fairy tale.
1. Chapter 1

These are the unfortunate circumstances of William of Lowless:

Chapter 1: The early years:

Music filled the grand ballroom as all the younger guests picked their partners to dance. A sea of heads bobbed up and down in rhythm as the melody flowed. Those who weren't engaged in dance were either chatting or sampling from the large banquet. The former's parents were preoccupied in the adjacent room either enjoying the same music that was only separated by one wall, or chatting amongst themselves. The wonderful sound of laughter and music filled the air as the nobles and families of the kingdom of Lowless celebrated the young prince's sixth birthday.

Everyone was enjoying themselves with the exception of the prince himself. Prince William enjoyed the party, but he couldn't wait until his Uncle Edmund came home from his trip to the Africas. Besides, sitting on a throne beside your parents for thirty minutes let alone hours wasn't any six year-old's definition of "fun", either. The queen noticed the squirming little boy and had an idea.

"Come, William," the queen said to her son, "let's go greet our guests."

Little William's face brightened. His mother always knew how to make things better. She took him by the hand and led him towards a group of mothers with their children. They bowed as they both approached.

"Oh, your highness, how Prince William has grown!"  
"Thank you," replied the queen. She looked down at Will, "tell them 'thank you', William."  
"Thank you," came the quiet reply. All the women in the group giggled and commenced with their gossip. Will looked over at his playmates, Edward and Henry. They usually tag along with their fathers when they are on business so they can play with the young prince.  
William smiled at Edward and Henry, and they bowed.  
"Prince William, Look at what I brought along." Edward whispered so that his mother wouldn't hear.

Edward showed Will and Henry his toy soldiers that he had in his pocket. They each took one and pretended that they were royal knights fighting a war in an imaginary country. They had just enough time to save the land from the enemy before one of the servants announced that it was time to open the presents.

Time passed quickly, as the prince opened his many presents, and after a short while, it was his bed time. The elders would continue the celebration in the ball room to give the adults a time to dance, while the younger children were put in the nursery.

Little Will liked seeing his friends and seeing so many people celebrate his birthday, but he couldn't wait until tomorrow when he would get to see his uncle.

Will took out the African toy his uncle had given him and played while thinking of him. It was his prized possession, a little wooden elephant. Uncle was always thinking of him; always telling him stories. William looked up to Uncle Edmund with awe in his eyes. He'd always sit on his uncle's knees and tell him, "Uncle, I want to be just like you when I grow up," but his Uncle would only laugh and tell him "Willie, you will be King someday. You won't have time to be like me."

Will looked at the elephant once more before putting it under his bed and blowing out the light.  
The prince smiled at his memories of his uncle that he hadn't seen in almost a year. He then rolled over and slept.

************************************************************************************************************************

The next day, the young prince woke up extra early, barely got dressed and quietly opened the large wooden door to his bedroom.

Slowly he crept down the hall and down the stairs. He had to be silent, stealthy; nobody could know he was there, for how else was he going to sneak some of last night's desert without anybody knowing?

He made his way through the main hall and carefully peeked inside the already ajar kitchen door.

William smiled. Nobody was in the kitchen.

Yet. He had to make it fast. He had just reached the pantry when he heard footsteps! The young prince felt a small panic rise in his chest. He quickly looked for a good place to hide.

There! Underneath the preparing table there was a space small enough for a little boy to fit. He quickly crawled under just in time, for right when he had gotten quiet, the intruder made his way into the kitchen. Will slowed his breathing as he sat there.  
'You know,' he thought, 'I am the intruder, here. Why else would I be hiding?'

Will let out a small little giggle; barely a breath of air passed through his lips when intruder stopped rummaging through the pantry and turned around. Will stopped breathing all together and stared at the feet with wide eyes. The pair of legs were making their way slowly towards him. 'Oh no,' William thought, 'I'll be scolded for sure once mum and dad hear about sneaking around the castle.' William didn't think his eyes could get any wider when the feet stopped right in front of where he was hiding underneath the table. Suddenly... the man walked away. Will sighed quietly in relief when all at once a face appeared in his vision and he heard a loud "BOO!"

William's screams turned to laughter when he was suddenly being tickled by this stranger. When he was finally put down, he looked up to see the face of none other than his Uncle Edmund! After a loud "Uncle Edmund you've come!" William was once again recieved into his uncle's arms. His uncle smiled at him and asked him what he was up to.  
"What do you think you're doing causing such a fuss in the morning while the guests are trying to sleep?"  
"I was getting some desert left over from the ball last night, Uncle." His uncle narrowed his eyes.

"You weren't trying to take some desert for breakfast, were you?" "Yes, Uncle." William prayed that his uncle wouldn't tell his parents of his morning endeavors. Just then, Uncle Edmond let out a hearty laugh.  
Will, we are on the same quest.  
You mean you came to get desert to eat, too?  
"Indeed," chuckled the man, "I was just about to find some when I heard a sneaky little rabbit underneath the table." His uncle pinched his nose, then set him down on the floor. "Let's look, shall we?" Little Will nodded his head.

The uncle and nephew pair were ten minutes into their search when Hill the cook cracked open the servants' entrance and quietly informed the pair that there wasn't enough desert left from last night to preserve, so they threw it out, but that he would be able to prepare some small buscuits to tide them over until breakfast.  
So uncle and nephew exchanged stories as they snacked on little bread rolls.

"So Uncle, how's business?" The contented uncle chuckled as his nephew's use of words.

"Most is well," he sighed, "but some dishonest men are trying to take some of my goods that I've shipped to Egypt. That was the purpose of these past few trips, was to catch these men, but they keep getting away."

"You went to Egypt?"  
"Yes, I did."  
"What's Egypt?"  
"Egypt is a country, Will. Like ours, but different, because they live in the desert."  
"Desert?"  
His uncle smiled. "Do you remember visiting the beach, Will?"  
"Yes"  
"The desert is a very dry place and sometimes has many hills of sand, and nothing but sand. There's a river that runs through Egypt, it's called the Nile. The people use the water to grow food, and feed their cattle. The further you get from the river, the more sandier it gets, because there isn't any water. Understand?"  
"Yes. Lots of people live there, in the desert beside the river?"  
"Yes, many people."

"How are you going to find those bad people?"  
"I've got to look for them, Willie."  
Will knotted his eyebrows in confusion. "The bad people who stole. Will they be angry that you're trying to find them?"  
"Oh yes, very. I suppose they will be a little scared, too."  
"I'll beat them up for you, Uncle. They'll be sorry." His uncle chuckled as Will showed him his fighting skills.  
"I'm afraid they're much too cunning and stong. Even compared to the brave 'Prince William of Lowless'.

"I'll challenge them to a duel and then they'll see who's sorry."  
His uncle only grinned and tousled Will's hair.

Edmund turned around as he heard a manservant entered the kitchen. "Excuse me, sirs. His highness requests your presence, Master Edmund."

"Very well, then. Please excuse me, William. I have business affairs I must attend to with your father. Why don't you go back up to your quarters and get dressed?" With that, Will's uncle patted his shoulder, then left.

"I'd better hurry out of here, before anybody notices I'm missing." Will thought he grabbed the last roll and snuck back out of the kitchen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o.0.o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

William laid on his bed. Several days had passed since that morning in the kitchen.  
"Uncle keeps going to Papa's study. He's always bent over maps. I tried asking him what they were maps of, but Papa told me to go to my governess and learn my arithmetic. I hate arithmetic. Uncle says he's going to be going, soon. He's going to go back to Egypt to hunt for those men that stole. Stealing is bad. When I grow up, I'm never going to steal..." Will looked out the window. He felt noble for silently vowing never to steal. Will frowned. "I'm hungry. I wonder what's for dinner." Will sighed and went back to his calligraphy studies when the maid came in to put tea on the table and stoke the fire. "Sir, master Edmund wishes to see you in your father's study." She bowed and left the bedroom.

Will beamed as he hopped off the bed and ran out the door.  
"Finally, Uncle calls me to his guest study." Will thought. "I don't get to see him very often. He's so busy with business." He quickly made his way down the hall and stopped short at the door. Just before knocking he heard voices inside. He heard bits and pieces until he leaned in closer. It was his father and Uncle.

"I'll bet Uncle's talking to father about his business." will thought as he eavesdropped.

"Edmund, this set of affairs requires all of us to go. This isn't something we can leave to an ambassador. If the Egyptian government is behind these affairs, we must confront them directly."  
"Brother, it's much too dangerous, especially if you go. Please, send an ambassador."  
"No. They've gone too far and it's too dangerous of a journey to go by yourself. Besides," the grave king added lightly, "I've always wanted to see Egypt."

Will peeked into the study. He could see his father sitting behind his large oak desk and his uncle standing with his back towards the door, both of his hands on the desk. He sighed, stood up and made his way over to the large wall of books; his face was grim.  
"Very well, have it your way, but I don't agree with your decision, brother." Edmund stared at the wall, not looking at anything in particular.  
"Good." the king stood up, "We'll make plans to leave tomorrow night. Now, if you will excuse me, I must inform my wife about our plans." Will's father made his way around the desk and to the door, to give his brother some time to think. Will ran to hide behind one of the large chairs in the hallway as his father walked out of the room. 'That was close,' Will thought, as he waited until the coast was clear to open the door to the large study.

"Uncle, what were you and papa talking about?"  
"Your father wants to help me catch the men who stole my goods."  
"But Uncle, I don't want you to go."  
The concerned uncle sighed, "I know, Willie." He looked at his nephew, who had his head bowed. He kneeled down next to him and smiled, "but imagine all the stories I'll have when I get back! It will be just like before. All will be well."

"Uncle, I want to go with you. Can I go?"  
"No, Willie, it's much too dangerous. You must stay here and look after your mother while your father and I take care of business."  
Will clung to his uncle's vest while he tried not to cry.

Still, the tears came, so uncle comforted nephew as the two shared their last moment together.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A steady drizzle of rain fell that day. It had rained all morning. The muddy ground was trampled and worn from all the people who came to pay their respects to the dead.  
The queen sobbed quietly as the priest laid King Reginald of Lowless and Prince Edmund of Lowless to rest. A much older Prince William looked on in silence. Rain began to pour as the ceremony came to an end. Everyone left, even his mother, after a while. She asked if he wanted to come inside but he didn't answer, so she left him to be alone.

Will didn't need to ask. He knew it wasn't a storm that killed his father and uncle. Angry tears started to form in his eyes as he watched the rain fall on the caskets of his father and uncle. "I will avenge you. I- I'll kill whoever did this" he whispered through clenched teeth. He put his hand on his father's casket and wept.

Things had died down after several passing months. People went back to their normal lives. They stopped talking about the former king and his adventurous brother. Nobody questioned. Nobody confirmed. Everyone assumed that their ship was lost at sea.

But William knew.

He knew the truth.

His father and uncle were killed.

Murdered.

His life had been so simple when he was younger. He was carefree and naive. He knew better now that he saw how dangerous and evil the world actually is. He always watched his back, now. He was careful to make sure who his real friends were. So Will locked himself in the library and secluded himself in his books. Eager to shut out the world that had tormented him and took away what he held most dear.

He was twelve years-old.

(A/N) - This IS a BATB fan fic. It is a very detailed perspective of the beast.

I'm a fan of long chapters (3,000+) so expect longer chapters.

^ ^ Please review, I welcome your comments.

Liscute00 ~ anne.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Two years later:

"Mrs. Hana, see if you can't coach young master William out of the library. His mother wants to see him." The elderly butler respectfully named "Butler" said curtly while thumbing through papers that held the day's work.  
Lulu Hana, the young servant girl curtsied and made her way though the long corridoors to the closed door of the library. Lulu put her ear to the door, and knocked.  
"Yes?" came the muffled reply.  
"The Queen wishes to see you, Sir." She said through the closed door.  
"Tell her I'm busy." He answered in the same tone.  
"She says it's urgent" the servant girl lied.  
What's so urgent? Nothing has happened today. If it did, I would know about it.

Lulu was running out of ideas. She tried the door. Locked. She took the hairpin out of her hair and slid it up through the door hoping to unlock it. It had worked, but Lulu knew that unlocking the door was a small feat compared to persuading Prince William out of his favorite room.  
Lulu quietly opened the door and took a peep inside.

She'd seen the library before, of course, but not so dimly lit. Light streamed in from the windows, illuminating dust particles floating in the air. There were book shelves from floor to ceiling that lined the walls. In the center of the far wall was a lit fireplace. Facing the fireplace was a deep green armchair with it's back facing the door.

Lulu barely saw a silhouetted arm when it disappeared behind the chair.

"Lulu, what are you doing?"  
"I was ordered to retrieve you out of the library and escort you to the queen's study, sir."  
"My orders were to not be disturbed."  
"My orders were to retrieve you out of the library."

She heard him sigh and close whatever book he had in his hands and stood. "Lulu, remember your place." She stood there speechless as he made his way around the chair and towards the door. She opened the door all the way and led him down the long cooridoors of the castle.  
Lulu smiled to herself as she walked ahead of the Prince. Success. She glanced at the less than happy prince. "I hope I didn't disturb your consentration, Prince William. " She said with a hint of sarcasm.  
"I bounce back easily." he said monotonely.  
She opened the door to the Queen's study. "Mi'lady, Prince William is here to see you." The prince glanced at Lulu and gave her a nod.

She quietly rejoiced as she made her way to the servant's hall. Word got out quickly at the feat she'd accomplished. She passed several servants who quietly gave her 'high-fives'. She neared the laundry room when she saw Butler mumbling to himself while thumbing through a slightly smaller stack of papers.  
Surprised, Lulu let out a small squeak and stuttered. "I-I ... just came from the library, sir."  
"Did you successfully persuade master William to see the Queen?" Butler asked as he ruffled through the papers not giving her two ounces of attention.

"Yes. I did." she said with a small smile "Without fuss?"  
Lulu nodded. "Without fuss."

Butler looked up and regarded her under close scrutiny as if further inspection of the thirteen year-old girl would reveal the secret of her success. He then replied with a mumbled, "Very good, then. Run along. Remember today's date. It's monday so get everything ready for the wash."

Lulu curtsied and quickly made her way to the laundry room to grab the clean linens and dashed along the servant's coridoors. As she made her way to the first bedchamber she reminded herself that she didn't need to get cocky. She'd only coaxed a stubborn fourteen year-old spoiled prince to come out of his favorite room after having asked to be left alone.  
Yeah.

"There you are, I was just coming to find you. What took you so long? Hey are you okay?" Lulu looked up and saw her best friend making her way towards her.  
Lulu smiled, "Yeah, I'm fine, Catty. Just a little tired, that's all." Catty studied her friend seriously then looked down. "It must be hard for you, Lulu."  
"Huh?"  
"You are working here by yourself to help support your father who lives in the next town, right? We see your optimimism and your charisma and how it gets you through those tough times, yet it still must be hard."  
"I must admit, I do miss my father, but knowing that my job is helping him, I feel I'm doing my duty. Even though it means I'm not with him." "You're a special girl, Lulu. Don't forget that. You'll do great things in your life."  
"Thanks, Catty. I feel the same way about you too. You're such a good friend. I don't know if I'd be so optimistic if you weren't here." Lulu smiled. "But really, that's not it. It's Prince William." She added softly.  
"Oh, Lulu, I almost forgot to tell you! There's a circus performing in the market this week if you wanted to come with Jane and me. There's going to be fire eaters, jugglers and a few fortune tellers." She said excitedly. "Sure, I'll go. When is it, again?"  
"This week. We were planning to go Friday, but it really doesn't matter when we go."  
"Sounds like fun." Lulu smiled as they carried linens to the nearest bedchamber. "We might have to sit in the back row, if people are spitting out fire." Cathy reassured her friend that it was safe to sit wherever they wanted. They took the dirty linens off the bed and started to replace them with clean ones. Catty continued to tell her about the circus and all the different exibits they would see. Lulu smiled, "Are you excited, Catty? Cause I can't tell." She gave her friend the 'don't go there' look and finished up making the bed.

They made their way around to each bed chamber. Catty carried the dirty sheets, and Lulu carried the clean sheets to be replaced on each bed. The Prince's bedchamber was next. Lulu walked right in, knowing that the prince wasn't in his room. He was either with the Queen or in the library. Lulu went over the chances that he was back in the library already and smiled to herself.  
The room was neat as always. He almost didn't need any maids to help him with anything. He had his own personal bookshelves that lined the wall to the right along with his desk. His large bed led off the left wall and he had a row of windows along the back wall where he had a table and two chairs.

Catty went to the back window and pulled back all the curtains. "Good grief, he keeps it so dark in here, it's a wonder how he's able to read at all." She shook out the curtains and tisked to herself. "The curtains need to be replaced. Look at them! They're terribly dirty. Why didn't any of the other maids catch this?" She shook her head and opened the windows to air out the dusty room.  
Lulu looked up from where she was stripping the bed and sighed. "We should probably take them down and run them to the laundry room." "Oh Lulu! I can't believe I forgot to tell you. Guess who has a beau now."  
Lulu continued stripping the bed. "Who?"  
"Guess."  
"Catty, I can't possibly guess. There are hundreds of servants in the castle. I can't keep track of them like you can. Just tell me, already."  
"Griselda and Jacob."  
Lulu looked up with an expression on her face that read "you must be joking".;  
"I'm serious. I was walking down the servant's corridoor and they must have thought they were alone. I saw him steal a kiss from Griselda!" Catty said in a hushed but very excited voice.  
Lulu looked at her friend like she was crazy. She thought she could even see hearts in Catty's eyes. Lulu nodded and resumed fixing the sheets with an "my best friend is crazy" look on her face. Griselda was one of the laundry ladies. She and her goonies would pick on the younger smaller maids, nothing serious to report, but it did get annoying after a while. Lulu recalled that Catty was picked on the most by the "laundry bully trio" and wondered why her friend was so happy for Griselda, and what the heck is Jacob thinking? Whatever he sees in her must be a bit prettier than what we see. "I know what you're thinking, Lulu. Your face says it all." Catty chuckled, "but even Griselda deserves someone."  
Lulu sighed, "I know, but it's Griselda! She's so... so-" Lulu furrowed her eyebrows.  
"Arrogant, rude, selfish, bossy? Take your pick."  
Lulu smiled.  
"If Griselda finds someone, maybe she'll see that someone loves her for who she is, and it might brighten up those dark spots in herself. She might become a better person.  
Lulu rolled her eyes. "Or maybe she'll gain another goonie to help her pick on the rest of us! Not that she needs any help," she mumbled, "she's doing a wonderful job on her own."  
"I heard that."  
Lulu sighed, she knew Catty was right and wondered what the chances were that Griselda would change for the better.

"Hey, Lulu, help me with these curtains."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lulu and Catty joked as they opened the door to the laundry room with dirty linens in their hands. Lulu looked in the laundry room surprised to find that Butler had installed two more laundry bins making six laundry bins in all filled with hot boiling water, and there were maids assigned to each one slowly stirring the pots filled with soiled clothing. Catty stepped down into the room that was just large and tall enough to fit six laundry bins and maids.  
"Here are the dirty sheets," Catty sing-songed as she announced her presence to the rest of the room.  
Everyone ignored her. Lulu looked quizzically at her friend as she made her way to drop the sheets at the foot of one of the bins. She caught the tail end of one of the conversations two maids were having. "... I just don't know about that boy. He stayed cooped up in the library all day-"  
"I know. Why doesn't someone show him how to shoot? He's at that age-"  
"Don't you know it? He used to have those two friends, Henry of Devonshire and Edmund of .. oh, what's it called-"  
"Bergen. It's far off. Overseas."  
"Right, right. He used to have friends, but ever since his uncle and father died, God rest their souls, he's kept himself cooped up in that library. Reading." the maid to the right shook her head.  
"Not that there's anything wrong with reading, you just have to attend to other duties, that's all."  
"Right. And you know several suitors came from several other countries, but the prince turned them down. He's probably very concieted. We don't know, of course because he keeps to himself.  
"Exactly."

Lulu didn't know who these maids were. But they seemed to gossip more than any of the other maids, and that's saying a lot. Lulu frowned. Prince William isn't that bad, sure he needs to get out of that library every once in a while, but it's not like he doesn't do his duties.  
"He doesn't even want to see the Queen anymore."  
"Tell me."  
"He just stays in that library all day. He doesn't do anything"

"Of course he does!" Lulu turned around with a scowl on her face. Catty looked up from where she was talking to Felicity, one of the other maids on laundry duty and gasped.  
"Oh my," one of them snickered, "I think this little one has a special interest in Prince William. Look at her, standing up for him." Two other maids joined in the laughter.  
"Hey, don't make fun of Lulu like that!" Catty said loudly.  
"It's okay, Catty." She faced the maids, "I don't like Prince William like that." Lulu slightly blushed as she stood up for herself. "If I did, or even if I didn't, I wouldn't talk like that behind his back. You two know he does his studies early in the morning with his tutor, Mr. Brantley, and he takes him shooting on Thursday nights," she straightened. "I don't know who you are, but how dare you talk about his Majesty like that." Lulu looked at the two maids who were a little startled at her outburst, but weren't afraid, because they had the other maids to back them up.  
"Is this little chamber maid bothering you, Danni?" Lulu cringed. Griselda. Lulu turned around and faced her. Oh, she was so much bigger and uglier than from further away. She much prefered to keep her distance from the overly robust maid. Being this close to Griselda, almost made Lulu's life flash before her eyes. "I'm not bothering anybody. I was just telling them that they shouldn't talk badly about Prince William," she said as she tried to keep her voice steady.  
"Well I don't think you should talk badly to my friends, here." Griselda motioned towards the new maids as she stepped forward making Lulu step backwards in fear. Catty gasped.  
Lulu almost panicked. 'Great. The last thing I need I Griselda on my back.' Lulu thought as she backed up further, and just when she thought things were going to get physical, Butler walked into the laundry room, this time paying attention for once, and ordered the maids to get back to work. Lulu sighed and relaxed. Griselda glared at her in a way that definitely said "this isn't over" and made her way back to her station.  
Catty made her way over to see if Lulu was okay. She nodded and quickly exited the laundry room to the kitchen to gather the rest of the napkins and tablecloths for "wash day". Butler continued to lecture the rest of the maids on how to "stay on the task at hand" and maids sing a silly songs to keep themselves consentrated on work. Lulu didn't really care; she just wanted to get away from Griselda and her minions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Yes Mi'lady, you called?" "William, I thought I'd inform you of some special guests we are to be expecting next week."  
"Mother, I thank you for informing me, but I have no wish to interfere with your affairs of state. I may formally introduce myself to his highness the-"  
"Sultan."  
"-Sultan, as in-"  
"As in from the Ottoman Empire, formerly known as Egypt."  
"I have no wish to see or even speak to people from the country who killed my father and Uncl-"  
"William, we've been over this many tim-"  
"Mother I know what I believe. I know they killed him. There's no doubt in my min-" Will's voice broke and he shuttered.  
The queen's face turned from frustration to regret. "Do you wish to speak about this another time?"  
"No. We will deal with it now." He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh to calm himself. A million thoughts ran through Will's mind, like why was his mother inviting those people to his kingdom? Why put the people in danger? Even if they were people of good intentions, what about influence? Could some of them be influenced for wrong? There was no telling what their were intentions for re-establishing trade, good or bad, Will didn't want to risk it. He frowned.  
Will opened his eyes to see his mother waiting expectantly behind her desk. His dark eyes wandered over to the bookshelf to her right to the lone bookshelf. Books always made things better for William. He walked over to the one large bookshelf in the large office. He wanted to drown in a book right now and forget about the guests that he didn't want to be welcome. Will brought his hand to the binding of one of the books and ran his fingers lightly over it.  
"I do not agree with Mother's plans." Will said still facing the bookshelf. "Forming ties with a country that has decieved us and hurt us in the pas-"  
"We have no proof of that, William. Please stop making assumptions. It's rude to place our family's deaths on an entire country." "They were involved in a dangerous mission! They made it seem like an accident! They're murderers!"  
The Queen slammed her fists on her desk. "They were lost at sea. Why can't you accept that? Does there have to be a murder involved for you to be satisfied?"  
"We don't have any proof," William said quietly into the bookshelf then turned around. "We have no proof of that, Mother. How can you be so satisfied? What if they were murdered? Please tell me you would act differently! Tell me you would want to bring justice to their deaths!" Will glared at his mother. "I've changed my mind. I don't want to greet them at all."  
Will's anger made him feel out of control as he walked out of the Queen's office, so he decided to cool off in his room. "I'll be in the library if you need me. Excuse me."  
The queen sighed and sat back down in her chair.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

William fumed as he walked down the quiet halls of the castle of Lowless. His mind raced. What has this come to, that the very enemy be welcomed into these peaceful halls? As Will opened the door to the library, he looked up to see Lulu walking slowly from the direction of the kitchen. "Lulu." Will was confused. Today is wash day, every maid should be in the wash room. "Where are you going?"  
Lulu looked up from staring at the floor surprised. "Uh- I - I was, I might have-" Lulu sighed, "I've had a not so great experience in the laundry room and so I'm - " Lulu's eyes strayed off to the side.  
Will noticed her uneasyness and smiled a little. "Well then, you can make yourself useful for me. Could you please bring a pitcher of water to me? I'll be in the library. Lulu brightened obviously thankful for her master for giving her another task and not repremanding her for roaming the halls. She curtsied and left for the kitchen once again. Will's soft smile left his face as thoughts of his confrontation with his mother entered his thoughts. He pushed the door open with the pads of his fingertips as he entered his sanctuary. The fire had died down a bit, and the sun had set. You could barely see the dust float slowly in the undisturbed air as Will made his way over to the dark green armchair. He put his hand on the chair's back as he looked as his books fondly. "Which book shall I read? Surely there's a book on Egypt in here somewhere..." Will proceded to look for a book that would give him a better idea of what kind of people he was dealing with. Will brought a small candle with him on his search.

"Hey Catty," Lulu said a little enthusiastically, "sorry to leave you hanging in the laundry room. I wanted to get out of there." Catty smiled at her friend when she saw her friend enter the kitchen in such a sad state. "Don't worry about it. I may annoy the maids, but they don't make fun of me. I guess I'm not any fun to pick on because it doesn't bother me that much."  
Lulu lifted the water pump's handle up and down until the water flowed into a crystal pitcher as her friend gathered the dirty tablecloths and washcloths that were scattered around the kitchen. "Who is the pitcher for?"  
"Prince William. He asked for some water right when he was going back into the library." Lulu monitored the water as it flowed freely out from the large nossle.  
"My my, Lulu. You must be a favorite with him." Catty snickered. "Oh no, not you too, Catty." Lulu said with a concerned voice, "You aren't allowed to make fun of me! You're my best friend!" Lulu stared with wide eyes at her best friend.  
"I was only teasing, silly. Besides, it doesn't mean anything." Lulu's expression melted back to indifference as she took the pitcher from under the water's flow and wiped the exterior of the pitcher of excess water. "It would be good for the prince to socialize every once in a while." Catty's expression hardened, "But remember your place, Lulu." Lulu smiled at her friend then saluted.  
"Yes Ma'am."  
"Oh, and don't forget about the circus, you promised you'd go with me, remember?"  
Lulu hesitated, "I don't remember promising, Catty."  
"Just go with me, please?" Catty begged.  
"I already said I would. I'm just not quite sure about the promising part. When is it again? It's all this week, right?"  
"Yes. We were planning on Friday, is that okay with you?"  
"Yeah, I'm off on Friday."  
"Okay, I think I have Friday off, too. You'd better get those things to Prince William, I'll see you later." Lulu filled her tray with the pitcher, glass, and a few snacks as she made her way to the library.

Lulu was greeted with close to the same scene as that morning. The curtans were opened a little wider, and the setting sun's rays in cast a warm glow throughout the room. The fire had died down to just a small flame and the embers glowed red hot. Dust continually swirled around as the young prince's silhouette walked from the bookshelves to to the table beside the green chair. There was a small pile of books that were stacked delicately on the little table. "Come in, Lulu. Please set the tray on the coffee table." Lulu felt differently about being willingly invited into the room that the prince spent so much time in. She nudged the door open and closed it with her foot. She looked at the prince who had resumed going through the books on the bottom shelf as she softly placed the tray of goodies on the coffee table and started to make her way to the door when she remembered that she needed to stoke the fire. Will took a break from the bookshelves to pour himself a glass of water, then returned back to the massive bookshelves that lined the left side of the library.  
"Will watched Lulu out of the corner of her eye. Her movements were quiet and precise. He tried to get a good look at her facial expression, but the room was far too dark. He thought she looked anxious in the hallway before, but it seemed that all traces of worry had left her face now. Will was shocked out of his daze when Lulu made her way to the door. "Uh- Lulu, stay here, please." Will pulled out a book from the shelf and seemed to be reading it. "I may need your assistance." Lulu nodded and quietly asked what she may do to be of service. "Please help me search these books on anything related to ancient Egypt, or the recent Ottoman Empire." He pointed to the furthest bookshelf to the left on the left side wall. "I need you to start there and we can work our way towards each other."  
Lulu made her way over to the tall bookshelf with her own candle and slowly read the bindings of the books. "Is there any specific book you'd like on the Ottoman empire?"  
"My father's library is extensive, but I doubt that he has that many books on the Ottoman empire. I've already found five books on ancient Egypt, which is quite a lot on one country, even for our library. There might be more, however, so I'm determined to look. I need to see if there's any research on the culture and customs of the current people of the Ottoman empire.  
Lulu nodded in comprehension. She had already read through several sections of the bookshelf when she found one. "Ah!" she exclaimed, "I think I found one; The Book of Ancient Egyptian Gods?" Lulu looked over at Will who nodded. "It wouldn't hurt to add that to our pile, would it?"  
"Lulu nodded, placed the book on the pile and resumed searching. "I hope I'm not being too forward, but what does the prince wish to accomplish with such knowledge?" Lulu glanced over to see him currently on his tippy toes reading the bindings off of books on the higher shelves. The question didn't seem to phase him, but she still wondered.  
"The sultan from the Ottoman empire is coming to Lowless sometime soon, and I want to know everything I can about them becau-" Will's eyes widened as he realized that he might have spoken too much to the servant. His face darkened as he looked at the small servant girl. "Speak a word, and I'll have you banished from this kingdom forever."  
Lulu's face went from concerned to shocked to horror. "I- I would never- Prince William..."  
"Good." Will seemed to go back to normal as he rumaged through the bottom shelf of the next bookshelf over. Lulu sighed as she resumed searching. She was starting to get bored, as she scanned over more and more books until she saw a book title that reminded her of the circus show that she told Catty she'd go to. "The Origins and History of the Side Street Entertainment" caught her eye and she smiled. "I'd like to read this book." she said.  
"Oh? You like that kind of thing?" Will looked at the book quizzically.  
"Oh, no- it's just the circus is in town..." Lulu looked at the book and put it aside for later.  
"There's a circus in town?"  
"Well, in the market outside the castle walls. One of my friends told me about it, and, so, she and I are going on Friday." "Ah, well, I hope you have fun." Will looked at Lulu and nodded. "I've got it from here, you may return to your duties."  
"Er, may I borrow this book? I'll return it as soon as I can."  
"You're welcome to it." he said indifferently.  
"Thank you, Prince William, please excuse me." Lulu bowed her head, made her exit and left the young prince to think to himself. Will had just sat down in his big green chair, when there came a knock at the door. He sighed. "Come in." "Master William, it's time for your arythmetic lesson." Will's tutor said quietly.  
"Phillip, your timing is impecable." Will said with a sigh.  
"My apologies, Master William." 


	3. Chapter 3

The Unfortunate Circumstances

Chapter 3:

Will woke to the chambermaid opening his door. Groaning, he squinted his eyes at the blinding morning light and stretched his legs. He sat up and eyed the maid who had already set down his breakfast and was now stoking the fire back to a roaring life. Clad in only pajama pants, Will waited until the maid was out of the room before he stumbled out of bed. "Why is it so bright in here?" He walked over to the tall windows and tried to close the curtains so that he could go back to sleep, but they weren't there. He squinted his eyes up the tall window frame and looked up at the bare windows in confusion. He scratched his head, looked out the window and sat down at the small breakfast table.

"Oh well," he thought as he took the first bite of his breakfast. "I can do without the bright sun, though. Whose idea was it to put my room on the east side of the castle? I'll have to talk to someone about that." Will looked out the window and had to admit that the view was very pretty. The sun was just now rising up over the horizon casting an orange glow over all the trees. "This isn't so bad, I could enjoy a little fresh air, too." He took another bite of his strawberry filled crepe before getting up and unlatching and opening the windows wide. He sighed at the fresh morning air and the quiet peaceful noises of morning when he heard several screams.

"There he is!"  
"Oh my gosh! Where?"  
"He went back inside his room!"

Will jumped slightly at the loud noise that had broken the morning's peaceful silence. 'What the he-?" The young prince jumped up and looked down to see a group of people, no, a mob of girls anxiously looking up at him.

Fangirls.

"Holy crap, how did they even get past the gate?" Will leaned out to get a better view when another one of the girls screamed in a shrill voice.

"OHMYGOD! He doesn't even have his shirt on!" The rest of the mob screamed and Will could have sworn he saw one faint.

He looked on in horror, when realization hit him that he didn't have anything covering his bare chest. Quickly, he scrambled away from the window, pulled the long rope that would summon a servant and got dressed standing a good distance away from the windows.

...

Lulu hurredly walked towards the prince's bedchamber. She was concerned because he didn't regularly send for anybody for anything. He usually kept to himself. She slowed as she came to the door and knocked.

"Come in." Came the cool reply. Lulu's eyes widened, as she stared at the door. She opened the it and peeked inside. The prince was dressed, but it looked like he had rushed in putting his clothes on. The usually dark room was much brighter. Lulu's eyes widened again.

"Catty had forgotten to replace the curtains!" Lulu thought as she looked in horror at the windows then at the prince. "Go see for yourself." Will motioned towards the windows. Not sure what she was supposed to be looking at, she looked outside and then noticed the guards chasing a group of screaming girls on the grounds below. Lulu turned around and pointed at the window, confusion etched on her face. "How-"  
"I don't even know." The prince shook his head. Lulu took another amused look at the screaming girls, still calling out Prince William's name and stating all sorts of shocking things before she turned back around and bowed. "I must apologize for one of the other young maids, your highness. She must have forgotten to replace the curtains when we took them down to get them cleaned."  
"It's fine, but I'd like it very much if this never happened again."  
"Yes, Sir." Lulu bit back a smile.  
"You're dismissed."

Lulu shut the door quietly after her before clasping her hand over her mouth and letting out a small fit of giggles. "I heard that!"  
Lulu gasped and ran down the hall.

"I don't know, Butler, but somehow they got inside the castle walls. Please talk to the palace guards for me and bring me the report as soon as possible. If you will, please excuse me I'm late for my lessons with Mr. Brantley."  
"Very well, Master William."

Will greeted his tutor, Phillip Brantley, in the hallway and walked towards Will's small study with him. The person William spent the most time with was Phillip. Mr. Brantley was sixteen years-old when he was assigned to tutor the young prince. That was four years ago. Now twenty, the tutor found himself learning from the prince almost as much as he taught. The two grew in friendship over time, and now William often confided and asked for advice from him. "I heard what happened this morning. Sounds like you've got fans." Will rolled his eyes at Phillip. "Whatever, I'm just glad that they're all off the palace grounds. Heaven forbid it if they ever broke into the castle." Will stared on, aggrivated at this morning's events.  
"What took the guards so long to apprehend them?" Will sighed.  
"I don't know. I need to talk to them about that, though. How the heck did silly girls get past the royal army guard?" Phillip shrugged. "Whatever, I don't want to talk about it anymore. Did you find anything else out on the Ottoman Empire?" Phillip handed Will a stack of papers, which Will began thumbing through. "This is information about the Egyptian empire and the current Ottoman empire?"  
"Yes, and there's trade routes past and present available in the study, also." Will nodded.  
"Very good, Phillip. Well done. Is there anything else? Do we have anything on the current Sultan? Just who is this guy?"  
"His name is Mustafa I Deli. He just got elected by the counsil of Ottoman after the death of his brother. There's rumors that he suffers from a neurotic disorder." Will handed the papers back to his tutor as they continued to walk briskly down the hall. "It's said that he is an extremely religious Muslim, that he tries to surround himself with as much religion as he can. My sources also say that he's extremely compulsive about sanitation."  
"Does my mother know of this information?"  
"I'm sure she knows who he is. I'm not sure if she knows of his psychological issues, though. It depends on how severe the condition is, if she'll notice or not, when he arrives."  
"Mr. Deli and his court of advisors are supposed to arrive within a two week period, so the servants should have enough time to clean the castle."  
"Sounds like you have a plan."  
"Can't have the sultan of a major empire having a nervous breakdown, Phillip," Will said with sarcasm. "That would be most unfortunate."  
Phillip squinted his eyes at his friend, "Now William, you're not plotting anything, are you?"  
Will looked at Phillip with faux shock. "I resent that. I really do." He sobered up and quietly said, "You know, Phillip. I feel like there's an ulterior motive behind why they're coming all the way to Lowless. I'll figure it out, and when I do, I'll make sure Mother knows about it. That is, if she'll even listen to me. I'll have to figure out how to get across my concern."  
"I hope you figure it out, soon. You've only got a week or two before they arrive."  
Will sighed as they opened the door to the small study. It was similar to his bedroom in that bookshelves lined both walls to the right and left and windows at the back of the room reached all the way to the ceiling.

When Phillip and William were through with the study session, they continued to talk about the situation with the Ottoman Sultan visiting the kingdom of Lowless. "I say, wait until you meet Mr. Mustafa before you judge his intentions of re-establishing trade between our country and his." Phillip said after sipping some of his tea.  
"I agree with what you're saying, I'm just concerned with the 'what ifs'. If they came with other intentions, we need to be ready. We need to have a plan of action, like how to keep an eye on them without them noticing."  
Phillip looked at his tea on the table, contemplating what his friend had suggested. "I really don't know how you would do that. I mean, you could hire a spy, but that would be too obvious. You'd need someone who workes in the castle, who already has an excuse for staying in the castle, who knows their way around and has access to almost all of the rooms and studies, and then, have that person report to the queen what's really going on." Phillip looked up to see the young prince staring at him with a smirk on his face. Phillip's eyes widened.  
"Oh, heck no. I'm not going to spy on a sultan from another country. That is not my job."  
"Phillip, I need you to do this for me." William sighed and scooted forward in his chair. "Who knows what they'll try to stick their noses into or do. All I would need you to do is keep an eye on them. That's all." Phil looked straight into Will's eyes and gave in.  
"Fine, but I get paid for this."  
"No you don't."  
Phillip groaned.  
"It would be too risky trying to ask for money from the treasury and not tell them what's being funded. This is an undercover assignment, meaning nobody gets paid."  
Phillip looked at William in disbelief. "So what is your job?"  
"Keeping under the weather as much as I can. They can't know that I suspect them of killing my father and uncle."  
Phillip sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Of course, sounds like you have a plan and just where do you get all of these wonderful ideas from?" He spread his arms wide.  
"I'll give you praise, Phillip when you give me a good report on what those scumbag Egyptians are up to." Will made his way to the door.  
"What? You aren't even going to recognize someone when they give you a good idea? You're a bloody jerk!" Phillip said half pissed off and half in jest.  
"You already knew that, Phillip. That's why we're friends. Now, excuse me, I'm going to the library. I don't want to be disturbed until it's time for my shooting and archery lessons. Oh!" He turned around and pointed at Phillip, "I'm thinking about going to the circus this weekend. You need to practice your acting skills, and I need to go with you to make sure you do a good job, So we're going to go disguised as civilians. Make sure you get good costumes for us." Will closed the door on his slightly annoyed friend. "Why do I even bother?" Phillip took a sip of tea.

The entire castle was busy in preparation for the guests. Every maid was working overtime, and all the cooks were preparing their best meals. Even Prince William was working harder to prepare for the Ottoman Sultan Mustafa I. The rugs were shampooed, walls were washed, rooms were being aired out, and all the floors were swept and mopped.

The maids worked hard to get their work done before Friday. That was the last day for the circus, and they all begged Butler for one day off for the maids who wanted to go. Thankfully he relented and allowed it, but only if they got their work done for the week. It just so happened that the Sultan was visiting within the next two weeks. The maids had to do five days worth of work in four. It was very hard work, but they finally got it completed and were ready for a major break.

"I can't wait, Lulu. It's going to be so exciting!" Catty said as they were looking in the mirror. "Yeah, sounds like fun."  
"You don't sound too excited, Lulu." Catty said frowning a little.  
"No, I'm excited, just not terribly elated like someone I know." Lulu cut a sideglance at Catty who laughed. "It's nice to get a break. I'm not jumping for joy or anything, but I am glad to get a nice vacation. I want to enjoy myself." Lulu said quietly as she stepped into her dress.

Lulu didn't have many dresses. She had her maid uniform, church dress, and a dress to wear when she wasn't working or at church, which she decided was the best dress for spending a day at the circus. It was a light blue with white lace around the bottom and at the end of her sleeves. She also had a white ribbon to go around her waste. She decided to wear her hair in little braded pigtails. Catty had worn her light pink dress with yellow ribbon and she had Lulu french braid her hair.

They both asked one of the older maids, Joselyn, if she could come with them, and she said "yes". So the three of them took the servant's exit out of the castle walls to the circus that was situated in one of the fields beside the small village square. Lulu looked back at the servants entrance and wondered if that's how the fangirls got onto the castle grounds.

When they approached, Lulu offered Catty first pick on what they were going to see. Catty's eyes lit up as she surveyed the grounds. There were jesters, tight-rope walkers, flame throwers, puppet shows, mimes, and several tents housing fortune tellers. "Let's go see the tight-rope walkers first." Catty said as she pointed to the middle of the fair grounds. There in the middle stood a large platform holding up two large poles. Looking up, Lulu saw a man with a large pole walk across the span of the rope. Everyone cheered as he made it across and raised his hands triumphantly.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Phillip and William sneaked out of the castle before adorning themselves in regular clothing. William and Phillip made their way down to the fair around afternoon. His stubborn tutor insisted on completing studies before venturing out. Will finally relented, which was a feat in itself to say the least. Will wasn't exactly pleased with going in the middle of the afternoon, but he was certain there would be more people. So he decided it wouldn't be so bad if they kept their heads covered with hats.

Once they made it out of the gate, they changed quickly into their civilian clothing and took the long way to the fair, so not to look like they had come directly from the castle. Seeing the circus in the distance, Will ran over their fake names with Phillip before entering the large crowd of people. "Philip, you're just going to go by Phil. I doubt anybody is going to think you're a member of the castle staff. I, however, must practice a bit more for my role. I will go by ... Adam. We're visitors from the next town over, Shinville. We're brothers, our parents died when we were young. You take care of me. Got it?"  
"I'm Phil. You're Adam. From Shinville. Brothers. Orphans. Got it." Phillip recited.  
"No matter what, we have to keep our identities unknown. If we see someone from the castle, we have to keep away from them or they'll recognise us, especially if we're together."  
"We need to stay together, though. It wouldn't be safe to have YOU of all people running around by yourself in a huge crowd of people; a quarter of those people being fangirls."  
"Of course."  
"So, what's the real reason why we're going to the circus? It isn't just to sneak out and get away from your mother and title, is it?" Phillip looked at his friend from the corner of his eye.  
"We're going to practice our acting skills, of course." William stared at his friend daring him to say anything contrary to his statement.  
"Fine." Phillip knew there must have been another reason why he was going to the circus. It didn't seem like him, though. He always liked to stay cooped up in the library. Why would he want to go to a circus? Phillip smiled a little as they went under the archway of the circus. 'Might as well enjoy myself.' he thought as William and Phillip made their way to the main tent in the center of the large twenty acre field to see when the main show would start. As they approached they saw a sign that read "The show will start in fifteen minutes." "Might as well get a good seat, right, Adam?" William looked at his friend and smiled a little.  
"I don't know, I'm a little hungry. I'm going to go get a little snack. Why don't you stay here and save us a seat?" Phil's smile dropped.  
"I don't think that's a goo-"  
"Phil, what's the worst that could happen? It'll be alright." William called over his shoulder as he walked out of the tent.

line break... ( o ) ( o ) ( o ) TIE FIGHTERS!!! ^ ^ (and I know what TIE stands for ;) wow, I guess I am a nerd... oh well, On with the story ^ ^

"We might want to head towards the big tent, soon. The show will be starting in ten minutes or so. We might as well get some seats, right?" Joselyn said as the three of them walked towards the middle of the circus grounds.  
"I don't know." Lulu turned towards the other two. "I'm kinda hungry. Why don't you guys go save us some seats, and I'll get us something small to eat?"  
"Sounds good," Joselyn nodded, "Just be careful. There's a lot of people here." She paused. "If somehow we don't find each other, we'll meet at the big top in the middle of the grounds, okay?" The two younger girls nodded. "Okay, Lulu. We'll be in the tent. We'll wave when we see you."  
"Alright."

Lulu saw a field that she supposed was an eating area. She had seen it when they first entered. It was full of people eating large portions of meat. Now, the field was empty save for a few people lingering about. Lulu finally noticed several columns of light grey smoke that were rising into the sky and headed towards them. That's when the wonderful smell of chicken hit her, and her pace quickened. She saw several young ladies bent over the fires grilling the meat.  
"Hello, can I buy three turkey legs, please?" Lulu said to the nearest lady who didn't seem to be occupied.  
"Yes, we have plenty left." The lady looked back at what was on the grill.  
"That's fine. I'll take three, please."  
"Here you are, that will be a shilling." Lulu handed her the coin as she waited for her turkey legs to finish cooking.

Just then she heard someone else order. "I'd like two turkey legs, please." The young man laid down a shilling. He was her age but a little taller like Prince William's height. She saw him look her way, so she put on a small smile but froze when she saw just whose face it really was. He turned back quickly and cursed under his breath. He looked back at Lulu who was facing the table seeming to await her order, but she had a small smirk on her face, like she was about to start bursting into laughter.  
"Hello," she said turning to him suddenly. "I'm Lulu. What's your name?" She smiled.  
William's current frustration melted into surprise. He didn't expect this sort of reaction from someone who was a servant girl. He expected squieling or laughter or something along the lines of "what are you doing here?". William remembered her question and chose to stick with his alias.  
"I'm Adam." He said with a small smile. "This might work." he thought. "Maybe Lulu won't spoil my cover."  
"It's nice to meet you, Adam." Lulu laughed. "So, are you enjoying the circus so far?"  
"We just got here."  
"We? Oh, right. I guess it would be smart to bring someone with you. Who did you bring?"  
"Phil." William said knowing that Lulu could figure out who it was he was talking about.  
"Really?" Lulu laughed, "Is 'Phil' enjoying the circus?"  
"Yes, he's saving me a seat for the big show." The woman handed Lulu her three turkey legs and Will helps her carry one while he waited for his order.  
"Thanks." Lulu said.  
"If you don't mind waiting, I can help you carry these back." Lulu looked at Will slightly shocked, but agreed, and thanked him again.  
"So, I mean. Why the circus? And why like this?" Lulu tried to word the question to where it wouldn't seem overly suspicous to the group of women who might have been eavesdropping. She figured that if he wanted to go to the circus as Prince William, he wouldn't have disguised himself as a commoner. He would have just come to the circus as himself. Will looked at the ladies who were bent over the fire and figured that they probably wouldn't be able to figure out what they were talking about.  
"The main reason is private. Sorry." William smiled slightly. "Business, as usual, but the other reason is just to see what it's like." William looked around. "I wish I could be this carefree." He stared off.  
"I can't say I understand, but I can grasp what you're saying." She smiled a little. "Are you going to stay for the fireworks show at the end of the day?" Will looked up when the lady handed him two turkey legs.  
"A fireworks show? I didn't know they had one." Will knit his brows in thought, as they started to walk towards the center of the circus. "I'll have to be home before dark, so I don't think I can. Phil and I came to browse a little. We hadn't planned on staying more than an hour or two."  
"I understand. I came with Catty and Joselyn. We're going to stay until about the middle of the fireworks show and watch them as we leave the circus grounds. We had no intention of heading out in the middle of a huge crowd. That would be too much traffic. So, Joselyn and I decided that it wouldn't hurt to watch the rest of the fireworks as we headed home."  
"Smart." William nodded.  
"Thank you." Lulu grinned. "So, what types of books do you like to read?" She giggled.  
William glared. "I guess I like anything that gives me knowledge about how I can better deal with situations."  
"What kinds of situations?"  
William shrugged and shook his head. "Diplomatic situations, I guess. I like history books, also. I believe that people record history to prevent mistakes from happening again or to encourage actions in government." "You're very wise for your age, Adam. You will do great things in your life time," Lulu said as they approached the tent.  
Will looked at her surprised at how sincere she had been. "Thanks, Lulu. That means a lot." He smiled.  
"See you later."  
"You too."  
William went to go sit by Phillip as Lulu made her way over to her two waving friends. Suddenly, a thought ran through both of their heads. "I really like that person. It's too bad we aren't of the same stature."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

William stood in front of his oval mirror, wearing some of his finest apparel, ready to meet the Sultan of Ottoman. Phillip opened the door and stepped inside. Will kept his gaze on the image in front of him. He was sure he was about to meet his Father and Uncle's killer. He wasn't sure how he was feeling about it right now, but he knew how to keep himself under control. There was no worry about that.  
"How do you feel?" Phillip stood a little behind William and looked at his reflection in the mirror.  
"I won't be okay until their deaths are avenged, but I can handle myself. Don't worry." William finally looked at his concerned tutor.

"Phillip," William turned and put his hands on his best friend's shoulders, which was a little bit of a reach, "I'll be fine. When am I scheduled to be in the main lobby?"  
"Five minutes."  
"Perfect. Let's stop by the kitchen and see if we can't snag something to eat before we go." Phillip rolled his eyes.  
"You never change, do you?"  
"I wouldn't be the William you know and love, Phillip. We can't have that, can we?"  
Phillip laugh cynically while being pushed into the hallway by his best friend. "Let's go see what goodies we can find before everything starts."

The kitchen was bustling with activity. "Hey, Hall. We want to sample and make sure the food isn't poisoned for our important guests," William yelled over the noise of pots banging and people yelling out commands.  
"Of course, Master William," Hall said with a knowing grin.

William and Phillip just grabbed some buttered bread seeing as how dinner wasn't too far along, and strolled quickly down the hall. They stuffed their faces as they walked. Once William finished, he looked to Phillip, who was still finishing his last piece of buttered bread, and asked, "How do I look? No crumbs, right?"  
"No crumbs," Phillip said with a full mouth. William laughed as he entered the lobby first and came face to face with the Queen, several of the Queen's advisors and most of the castle staff, including Butler and the general of the royal guard. William approached the group.  
"When is Mr. Mustafa scheduled to arrive? William asked his mother.  
"In a few moments. He's already sent the messenger. He should be arriving any second now." True to his mother's words, Butler announced the arrival of the Sultan and stood at attention with all the other head servants. The Queen and attendants looked up expectantly at the door.

Two servants opened the double doors presenting the Sultan Mustafa I of the Ottoman Empire.

***************************************************************************************************************

(A/N:) Hello everyone ^ ^

Here's the third chapter of the Unfortunate Circumstances ^ ^ I hope you thought my little "fangirl" joke was funny. I rather enjoyed writing it myself.

Everyone give a round of applause for my Beta, My mummie. ^ ^ yes... I have my mom beta my work. She's an English genius. lol.

LOL she's a comma freak, too. O_O she really likes those commas. THroughout the entire thing... "Put a comma here, put a comma there..."

and I'm like O_O "Too many commas!"

anyways, please review, because it makes me super super happy and it makes me post much faster.

and believe me, reviews make me happy. ^ ^ thanks a lot,

~Anne

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